The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (234 page)

Surrey was a young man of the most promising hopes, and had distinguished himself by every accomplishment, which became a scholar, a courtier, and a soldier. He excelled in all the military exercises, which were then in request: He encouraged the fine arts by his patronage and example: He had made some successful attempts in poetry; and being smitten with the romantic gallantry of the age, he celebrated the praises of his mistress, by his pen and his lance, in every masque and tournament. His spirit and ambition were equal to his talent and his quality; and he did not always regulate his conduct by the caution and reserve, which his situation required. He had been left governor of Bologne, when that town was taken by Henry; but though his personal bravery was unquestioned, he had been unfortunate in some rencounters with the French. The king, somewhat displeased with his conduct, had sent over Hertford to command in his place; and Surrey was so imprudent as to drop some menacing expressions against the ministers, on account of this affront, which was put upon him.

And as he had refused to marry Hertford’s daughter, and even waved every other proposal of marriage; Henry imagined, that he had entertained views of espousing the lady Mary; and he was instantly determined to repress, by the most severe expedients, so dangerous an ambition.

Actuated by all these motives, and perhaps influenced by that old disgust, with which the ill conduct of Catherine Howard had inspired him against her whole family, he gave private orders to arrest Norfolk and Surrey;

and they were on the same day confined in the Tower. Surrey 12th Dec.

being a commoner, his trial was the more expeditious; and as to proofs, neither parliaments nor juries seem ever to have given the least attention to them in

any cause of the crown, during this whole reign. He was accused 1547.

of entertaining in his family some Italians who were
suspected
to be spies;

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a servant of his had paid a visit to cardinal Pole in Italy, whence Execution of the earl he was
suspected
of holding a correspondence with that of Surrey.

obnoxious prelate; he had quartered the arms of Edward the Confessor on his scutcheon, which made him be
suspected
of aspiring to the crown, though both he and his ancestors had openly, during the course of many years, maintained that practice, and the heralds had even justified it by their authority. These were the crimes, for which a jury, notwithstanding his eloquent and spirited defence, condemned the earl of Surrey for high treason; and their sentence was soon after executed upon him.

The innocence of the duke of Norfolk was still, if possible, more Attainder of the duke apparent than that of his son; and his services to the crown had of Norfolk.

been greater. His dutchess, with whom he lived on bad terms, had been so base as to carry intelligence to his enemies of all she knew against him: Elizabeth Holland, a mistress of his, had been equally subservient to the design of the court: Yet with all these advantages his accusers discovered no greater crime, than his once saying, that the king was sickly, and could not hold out long; and the kingdom was likely to fall into disorders, through the diversity of religious opinions. He wrote a pathetic letter to the king, pleading his past services, and protesting his innocence: Soon after, he embraced a more proper expedient for appeasing Henry, by making a submission and confession, such as his enemies required: But nothing could mollify the unrelenting temper of the king.

He assembled a parliament, as the surest and most expeditious 14th Jan.

instrument of his tyranny, and the house of peers, without examining the prisoner, without trial or evidence, passed a bill of attainder against him, and sent it down to the commons. Cranmer, though engaged for many years in an opposite party to Norfolk, and though he had received many and great injuries from him, would have no hand in so unjust a prosecution; and he retired to his seat at Croydon.
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The king was now approaching fast towards his end; and fearing lest Norfolk should escape him, he sent a message to the commons, by which he desired them to hasten the bill, on pretence, that Norfolk enjoyed the dignity of earl marshal, and it was necessary to appoint another, who might officiate at the ensuing ceremony of installing his son prince of Wales. The obsequious commons obeyed his directions, though founded on so frivolous a pretence; and the king, having affixed the royal assent to the bill by commissioners, issued orders for the execution of Norfolk on the morning of the twenty-ninth of January. But news being carried to the Tower, that the king himself had expired that night, the lieutenant deferred obeying the warrant; and it was not thought advisable by the council to begin a new reign by the death of the greatest nobleman in the kingdom, who had been condemned by a sentence so unjust and tyrannical.

The king’s health had long been in a declining state; but for several days all those near him plainly saw his end approaching. He was become so froward, that no one durst inform him of his condition; and as some persons, during this reign, had suffered as traitors for foretelling the king’s death,
g
every one was afraid, lest, in the transports of his fury, he might, on this pretence, punish capitally the author of such friendly intelligence. At last, Sir Anthony Denny ventured to disclose to him the fatal secret, and exhorted him to prepare for the fate, which was awaiting him. He expressed his PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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resignation; and desired that Cranmer might be sent for: But before the prelate arrived he was speechless, though he still seemed to retain his senses.

Cranmer desired him to give some sign of his dying in the faith Death of the king.

of Christ: He squeezed the prelate’s hand, and immediately expired, after a reign of thirty-seven years and nine months; and in the fifty-sixth year of his age.

The king had made his will near a month before his demise; in which he confirmed the destination of parliament, by leaving the crown first to prince Edward, then to the lady Mary, next to the lady Elizabeth: The two princesses he obliged, under the penalty of forfeiting their title to the crown, not to marry without consent of the council, which he appointed for the government of his minor son. After his own children, he settled the succession on Frances Brandon, marchioness of Dorset, elder daughter of his sister, the French queen; then on Eleanor, countess of Cumberland, the second daughter. In passing over the posterity of the queen of Scots, his elder sister, he made use of the power obtained from parliament; but as he subjoined, that, after the failure of the French queen’s posterity, the crown should descend to the next lawful heir, it afterwards became a question, whether these words could be applied to the Scottish line. It was thought, that these princes were not the next heirs after the house of Suffolk, but before that house; and that Henry, by expressing himself in this manner, meant entirely to exclude them. The late injuries, which he had received from the Scots, had irritated him extremely against that nation; and he maintained to the last that character of violence and caprice, by which his life had been so much distinguished. Another circumstance of his will may suggest the same reflection with regard to the strange contrarieties of his temper and conduct: He left money for masses to be said for delivering his soul from purgatory; and though he destroyed all those institutions, established by his ancestors and others, for the benefit of their souls; and had even left the doctrine of purgatory doubtful in all the articles of faith, which he promulgated during his later years; he was yet determined, when the hour of death was approaching, to take care, at least, of his own future repose, and to adhere

to the safer side of the question.h

It is difficult to give a just summary of this prince’s qualities: He His character.

was so different from himself in different parts of his reign, that, as is well remarked by lord Herbert, his history is his best character and description.

The absolute, uncontrouled authority which he maintained at home, and the regard which he acquired among foreign nations, are circumstances, which entitle him, in some degree, to the appellation of a
great
prince; while his tyranny and barbarity exclude him from the character of a
good
one. He possessed, indeed, great vigour of mind, which qualified him for exercising dominion over men; courage, intrepidity, vigilance, inflexibility: And though these qualities lay not always under the guidance of a regular and solid judgment, they were accompanied with good parts, and an extensive capacity; and every one dreaded a contest with a man, who was known never to yield or to forgive, and who, in every controversy, was determined, either to ruin himself or his antagonist. A catalogue of his vices would comprehend many of the worst qualities incident to human nature: Violence, cruelty, profusion, rapacity, injustice, obstinacy, arrogance, bigotry, presumption, caprice: But neither was he subject to all these vices in the most extreme degree, nor was he, at intervals PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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altogether destitute of virtues: He was sincere, open, gallant, liberal, and capable at least of a temporary friendship and attachment. In this respect he was unfortunate, that the incidents of his reign served to display his faults in their full light: The treatment, which he met with from the court of Rome, provoked him to violence; the danger of a revolt from his superstitious subjects, seemed to require the most extreme severity.

But it must, at the same time, be acknowledged, that his situation tended to throw an additional lustre on what was great and magnanimous in his character: The emulation between the emperor and the French king rendered his alliance, notwithstanding his impolitic conduct, of great importance in Europe: The extensive powers of his prerogative, and the submissive, not to say slavish, disposition of his parliaments, made it the more easy for him to assume and maintain that entire dominion, by which his reign is so much distinguished in the English history.

It may seem a little extraordinary, that, notwithstanding his cruelty, his extortion, his violence, his arbitrary administration, this prince not only acquired the regard of his subjects; but never was the object of their hatred: He seems even in some degree to

have possessed, to the last, their love and affection.i
His exterior qualities were advantageous, and fit to captivate the multitude: His magnificence and personal bravery rendered him illustrious in vulgar eyes: And it may be said, with truth, that the English in that age were so thoroughly subdued, that, like eastern slaves, they were inclined to admire those acts of violence and tyranny, which were exercised over themselves, and at their own expence.

With regard to foreign states, Henry appears long to have supported an intercourse of friendship with Francis, more sincere and disinterested than usually takes place between neighbouring princes. Their common jealousy of the emperor Charles, and some resemblance in their characters (though the comparison sets the French monarch in a very superior and advantageous light), served as the cement of their mutual amity.

Francis is said to have been affected with the king’s death, and to have expressed much regret for the loss. His own health began to decline: He foretold, that he should not long survive his friend:
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And he died in about two months after him.

There were ten parliaments summoned by Henry VIII. and

Miscellaneous

twenty-three sessions held. The whole time, in which these transactions.

parliaments sat during this long reign, exceeded not three years and a half. It amounted not to a twelvemonth during the first twenty years. The innovations in religion obliged the king afterwards to call these assemblies more frequently: But though these were the most important transactions that ever fell under the cognizance of parliament, their devoted submission to Henry’s will, added to their earnest desire of soon returning to their country-seats, produced a quick dispatch of the bills, and made the sessions of short duration. All the king’s caprices were, indeed, blindly complied with, and no regard was paid to the safety or liberty of the subject.

Besides the violent prosecution of whatever he was pleased to term heresy, the laws of treason were multiplied beyond all former precedent. Even words to the disparagement of the king, queen, or royal issue, were subjected to that penalty; and so little care was taken in framing these rigorous statutes, that they contain obvious contradictions; insomuch that, had they been strictly executed, every man, without exception, must have fallen under the penalty of treason. By one statute,
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it was declared treason to assert the validity of the king’s marriage, either with

Catherine of Arragon, or Anne Boleyn: By another,m
it was treason to say anything to the disparagement or slander of the princesses, Mary and Elizabeth; and to call them spurious would, no doubt, have been construed to their slander. Nor would even a profound silence, with regard to these delicate points, be able to save a person from such penalties. For by the former statute, whoever refused to answer upon oath to any point contained in that act, was subjected to the pains of treason. The king, therefore, needed only propose to any one a question with regard to the legality of either of his first marriages: If the person were silent, he was a traitor by law: If he answered, either in the negative or in the affirmative, he was no less a traitor. So monstrous were the inconsistencies, which arose from the furious passions of the king, and the slavish submission of his parliaments. It is hard to say, whether these contradictions were owing to Henry’s precipitancy, or to a formed design of tyranny.